Ultrapure Water Treatment (UPW)

Ovivo works tirelessly to provide the purest water possible to the global semiconductor industry and succeeds in meeting the most stringent TOC requirements!Our ultrapure water treatment (UPW) systems utilize several processing methods (e.g., conventional, membrane, Ion Exchange and thermal processes - either in conjunction or independently), depending on output requirements. Individual equipment is easy to incorporate into existing and/or complimentary systems.

The global community is facing a water crisis and the demand for clean water is ever increasing. Many of the industries that Ovivo serves are often under scrutiny from the general public, governments and the media to improve their processes and reduce the impact on the environment.

Ovivo develops and provides high-performance technologies to serve the semiconductor industry’s use of water and has had great success in meeting the most stringent TOC requirement (<0.3 ppb).

Ovivo’s passion to create value in water is executed through the design, installation and commissioning of highly sophisticated ultrapure water treatment (UPW) systems, providing customers with the best end-to-end solutions to treat and recycle water at the lowest energy cost.

Choosing Ovivo as your UPW systems partner, we guarantee

Reliable system meeting the exceptionally high standards of the industry

Lowest cost of ownership

Forward looking technology development and innovation

Open, close and transparent communication

High experienced company and people

A partner with more than 150 Ultrapure Water Treatment Systems successfully installed worldwide

Which typical UPW qualities can be achieved with most advanced technologies?

The UPW qualities currently achieved correspond to the ITRS Roadmap for UPW, resulting in better qualities within many parameters (TOC, Metals, Boron, Silica…)

Are impurities in the ppq ranges reasonable today?

PPQ (part per quadrillion – respectively sub-ppt levels) become more and more reasonable to detect under certain lab-environments and conditions, especially for metals with high performance ICP-MS means. For all other contaminations, the state of the art is still in the sub-ppb to ppt levels.

Are starting water qualities of importance for the production process of UPW and it’s quality?

Raw water qualities have non-negligible influences on how the UPW treatment processes are designed. The major influences come from specific organic molecules present in the raw water and their variations, which strongly and quickly affect the TOC spec in UPW. Such typical critical molecules can be urea, Trihalomethanes (DBPs), or, in general, low polar molecular weight organics.

Are there some critical organic impurities critical for the available treatment processes in order to achieve TOC values following the ITRS roadmap?

Not really, in fact the process designs just need to be adapted. The most important factor is to have as much raw water composition information as possible, along with changes through time and seasons.

Particles in UPW: are there some possibilities to achieve lowest particle numbers in the 10nm size range?

Particles (mainly nano-particles) are the biggest challenge due to the fact that semiconductor structures are becoming smaller and smaller. Getting low particle numbers and sizes are essential to an optimal – in all details – UPW- process design. The choice of implementing the right material of constructions, hydraulic designs and process components (like high purity ion exchange resins in the polishing sections, etc.,) is crucial in making sure particles are not released from these materials as well. The last processing stages of an UPW plant are mostly microfiltration and ultrafiltration, which efficiently remove most of the micro and nano-particles present. Currently, we are limited to monitoring online particles in the range of >25-50nm. In the future, maybe nano-filtration will have a role to play here, with the big issue being the ability to measure and monitor these nano-particles online. Until then, online monitoring devices and membrane processes will need to improve and innovate in order to follow the semiconductor trends in regard of particles sizes. A big challenge.